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Thakoon's Inspiration

By Danica Lo

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When designer Thakoon Panichgul first arrived in the United States, he didn't know one word of English. He tells the Globe and Mail that this helped him find his true voice: "I didn’t know a lick of English. I had no friends. And I was coming from Bangkok, which is a huge, huge city and [where] my brother and I were running around by ourselves and knew everyone and were like the life of the party and having fun. And then we get to Omaha and there was really nothing to do. So I think it forced me to kind of dig within myself to survive. But I think that helped foster my creativity." [Globe and Mail]

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